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The New York Times once led the world with its giant-negro-attack coverage. [source]
I recently got an e-mail announcing that I could get same-day delivery of almost any newspaper in the world right on my doorstep. Starting this week, Newspaper Direct began offering more than 400 papers from 60 countries — including a bunch I’d like to have, like the Times. The only problem: It’s expensive as balls. In New York, a year’s subscription of the Times costs just under €200. Here I’d have to pay €1,461. That’s 700% more expensive. And keep in mind that even if it’s same-day delivery, it’s still yesterday’s news. Thanks to my glorious broadband connection, I can read the latest stuff on their website. And it’s free. As plenty of people have noted, print subscriptions just don’t make much sense anymore.
That said, I still love the idea and I would be seriously tempted to get the Sunday New York Times if they had it. But they don’t. I’ve never much liked reading papers on my monitor. It was so much nicer curling up in bed with the Gray Lady; letting my fingers gently move through her many fleshy sections and folds. (The Sunday Edition, if you’ve never seen it, is massive — today it might be better called BBW.)
Yes, I do miss that. I also love the promise of same-day delivery. I have numerous subscriptions to American magazines — and I’ll tell you, the delivery is atrocious. You’d think that the European Union could manage regular, reliable delivery down its many well-traveled arteries. But it can’t.
So I’m really looking forward to the day when I get this e-mail in my inbox: “Tired of getting The New Yorker a month late? Or having them delivered in non-sequential order? We can help!”
But so far that e-mail is firmly in the realm of science fiction.
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Another free option is:
www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/default.asp
Well, only front pages. But from 601 papers from 55 countries.
@Michael: Hmm, I don’t think you can really blame the EU mail system…at least completely.
Lot of times the hang up is on the US end due to the magazine companies mailing the items the cheapest way possible. Which means it goes out as space-available. Then going to Europe, most of the mail is probably sent by boat. The times where you get an issue out of order…the later issue probably ended up going by Air due to some extra space not being taken up..so the postal service throws it on.
Same things happened when I was living in Korea in the military. Military mail bypasses the foreign postal services, yet we still had the same problems with periodicals.
I’m sure if the companies you ordered your magazines from sent everything Air Mail you would get them in a timely fashion.
Michael N. is correct. I used to work for a magazine in Prague and we had some poor ditributers in Australia, and for them to get the magazine before it went out of date cost so much..
It’s true - don’t blame the whole EU mail system.
In my case it’s the Belgian mail’s fault. I’m still waiting for the last 5 issues of Sobotno Delo to arrive from Slovenia to Brussels. I was told that half of this country just leaves for vacation in August and “non-essential” deliveries never arrive. ?!?!?!
Karmen: A great link, thanks! Can’t believe there aren’t any Slovenian papers. Or maybe I can.
As for the EU: Can blame, do blame. This fellow is in the same ship as I am, except he’s in Brussels. He apparently had some problems but now says he’s getting The New Yorker two days after the publication date. If the magazines can get to Brussels in two days — why should it take an additional 3-4 weeks to arrive here? And why do I usually get two (or even three) issues all at once?
@Michael M.: Do you use carriers like UPS or DHL to have your magazines delivered or do you rely on Pošta Slovenije?
It’s been different. Lately I think it’s been DHL, and usually via Switzerland.
Did anybody try to subscribe to a European paper in the states? Is it even possible?
Another option: your postman reads it before letting you have it
That was the case with my glossy full-colour horse magazine I used to receive from Germany as well as one of my cat magazines from the US.
dr. filomena: I suspected that at first, too. But the magazines are bagged and air tight.
mat: It’s possible. And in most big cities you can find tons of foreign newspapers.
@Michael M: Well I’m guessing in the other guys case it, everybody catches a break sometimes.
Of course he did say this just happened recently. You also have to take into account (like you mentioned) that he is near Brussels, which is most likely a direct mail hub. So if it goes by airplane it can arrive quite fast.
Also I send about 10-12 parcels a year to my cousins in Slovenia. I’ve been doing this for about 4 years now. I’ve sent out each one Air Mail and they have always arrived within 6-10 days.
I’m not saying the EU system isn’t deserving of some of the blame. Although I’m sure most of the delays are occurring on the Trans-Atlantic leg of the journey.
@Michael M: I was curious so I actually went to the New Yorker website and looked up their International subscribers option. The delivery method listed is Foreign Surface Mail. Which means in most cases it’ll go by boat.
So expect most of the issues to take a long time to arrive, unless you can upgrade the shipping for more money. That’s doubtful though, since most of these magazine companies don’t want to deal with the hassle.
BBLN: I think I just solved your mystery. This report just came in from Reuters:
” BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian postman who lightened his mailbag by holding back thousands of letters and packages at home for up to five years now faces dismissal.
“What was strange in this case was that he kept them all in his flat and that, while he opened a lot, he appears to have left the contents in the envelopes,” a spokesman for the postal service said.
An internal control alerted the Post Office to the problem and prompted a police search of the man’s home last week.
“A couple of thousand items of mail were found in his flat.” (source)
Michael! Regarding that Belgian postman: So Seinfeld and his US postman NEWMAN are now being broadcast there?
O.K., this may better explain the Newman thing.
We receive the London Times the same day at my office in San Francisco (though it is rarely worth reading) and the Economist in a very timely fashion.
And I’m fascinated at the interest in this topic. Maybe newspapers aren’t ready to die just yet…
@Michael M.: I’ve had quite a bad experience with DHL… An application had to be delivered to Belgium in 24 hrs, but it got stuck in Brussels and didn’t move for the next three days. And I payed extra for super-fast delivery. So I think Michael N. has a point there….
So, what’ wrong with www.PressDisplay.com (online newspaper service by NewspaperDirect)? The site offers instant access to 500+ newspaper replicas from 70 countries. Unlimited access package will cost you $360/year ($29.95/month).
By the way, all front pages are free similar to Newseum, but now you can also read the entire newspaper, search back issues and set free email alerts/monitors.
Disclosure: I work @ NewspaperDirect and here is the perk - use offer code: “free” when registering to get one-month unlimited access.
Hey, M.
Do you know about New York Times reader?
www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000944.html
David: Sounds interesting but if anything, I miss the actual touching of paper. I’ll probably give it a try, though!
The problem with the New Yorker has eased in recent months, but is still not ideal. I have had a similar problem with The Economist from the UK and Time magazine from the US. English-language papers such as the Independent and so on are printed in Brussels, and still come a day after their mainland counterparts (Oh, and I’m not personally in Brussels, I’m in Germany). Hopefully things will speed up, although I have received a mail from The New Yorker, in addition to those mentioned in my above linked article, but it was to ask whether I’d be prepared to pay extra to read online and dump the printed edition altogether. I prefer print.
Pi.